Classical creatures: Photos show natural world in startling light

Sunday

In a photographic overture for future symphonies, an improbable menagerie of pigs and roosters, elephants and barn owls is hanging around the National Heritage Museum.

In a photographic overture for future symphonies, an improbable menagerie of pigs and roosters, elephants and barn owls is hanging around the National Heritage Museum.

The pigs muck about in their sty, and a red rooster puffs himself up like Dr. Phil. Elephants drape their trunks around human friends, and the stuffed owls make gorgeous still lifes.

They are just some of the photogenic critters making cameos in a magical exhibit that uses enhanced photo technology to reveal the natural world through startling images.

The show, "Fins, Wings and Other Such Things," features 48 images arranged in 20 framed photographs that depict animals in utterly original ways.

Subtitled "Photos from the Polaroid Collection," the exhibit runs through Feb. 10.

After this show, you'll never look at the goldfish in your dentist's tank or blue herons nesting by the Sudbury River the same way.

They are house pets, wild beasts and creatures of mystical power. They provide companionship, transportation, protein and a sinewy conduit to the natural world.

By juxtaposing photographs with classical music, the exhibit will provide a pictorial accompaniment for two "Sight and Sound" concerts by the Lexington Symphony Orchestra on Nov. 3 and Feb. 9, in the auditorium at the museum. A Children's Workshop and Concert is scheduled for Feb. 10 at 3 p.m.

The National Heritage Museum, Lexington Symphony Orchestra and Polaroid Corp. collaborated on the exhibit and concerts.

As a synergistic dimension of coming LSO performances, the exhibit represents a qualitative leap into fresh realms of art.

LSO Music Director Jonathan McPhee initially selected photos for the show and performances from Polaroid's archives of 16,000 images, said Barbara P. Hitchcock, director of cultural affairs at Polaroid.

Working with Hitchcock, McPhee eventually selected 200 photos that depicted animals in imaginative postures and settings and then narrowed them down further.

McPhee credited Hitchcock for helping him "pull together wonderful pieces of art" to supplement the symphonies. "It's not what you expect," he said.

McPhee started by spreading photos on his floor, eventually deciding to focus on images of animals. Then he experimented by putting them in groups and sequences he felt would add new dimensions to the classical pieces he had in mind.

"The last thing I wanted was to play music and just show pictures. The music shouldn't just be an accompaniment," McPhee said. "The idea was to use visual images that encourage other associations. So people would look at a photo and think one thing and then realize it's taking them to a completely different place."

Once the photos were selected, McPhee "juggled both mediums" in his computer to create a choreographed sequence of images that will be projected on a screen during performances at the museum.

During the November and February concerts, crabs and cockatoos, Weimaraners and red-legged tarantulas will appear on screen as the LSO performs pieces by Felix Mendelssohn, Jean Sibelius, Charles Gounod and Pietro Mascagni.

"When I finally knew I had it finished, I showed it to my family and friends," he said. "Everyone had a very strong reaction ranging from 'Wow' to 'I had no idea you were working on something like that."'

McPhee said each piece would be about five minutes long and use the images in different sequences. "The images vary completely with how they react with the music," he said.

The pieces by Mendelssohn, Sibelius, Gounod and Mascagni range from colorful to dramatic and heart-wrenching to melancholy, said McPhee.

In his third year with the orchestra, McPhee said he was happily surprised "by how well it works." He emphasized the photo images don't merely complement the music but expand it.

Based on his experience in dance and theater, McPhee said he matched images to music in such ways "they both influence each other."

"It's all about the expression behind the presentation," he said. "I was interested in the human impact of the art."

But for visitors who only see the photos, they are fascinating examples of using a variety of Polaroid instant films to make us see animals in new ways. Hitchcock's cogent wall text explains the innovative methods photographers used to develop their prints.

In "Night Passage in the Camargue," Lynn Butler captures the power of running horses by taking her pictures on horseback while employing a slow shutter speed to create the sensation of movement.

Taking the opposite approach, Andrea Wolff seeks to "reveal the beauty of the anatomical structure" of insects in six sepia-toned images from her series "Meet the Beetles."

Just a few feet from Butler's sensuous horses, visitors will see extreme close-ups of a Goliath beetle, a Walking Leaf and an African desert locust, all captured in exquisite detail.

Seen up close, there's as much natural art in the jointed legs of a praying mantis as the murals of the Sistine Chapel.

Some photographers use curious juxtapositions to give their photos an enigmatic quality.

In Neil Slavin's "Elephant Keepers with Katie & Kumara," huge elephants and their human keepers pose together as if at an office picnic.

Providing a double contrast, images by Robin Bowman and Jan van Steenwijk are displayed side-by-side in the same frame. Without comment, Bowman shows a preening young man with a white cockatoo perched on his satin shirt, while van Steenwijk depicts a muscular bodybuilder with a baby chicken on his brawny shoulder.

Look once and think about the two very different young men. Look again and think about the cockatoo and the chicken.

A few frames over, in Shellburne Thurber's "Donald + Koko," a long-faced man with a vacant look holds a long-nosed dog with a vacant look as if to prove humans, indeed, come to resemble their pets.

For all its beauty, laughs and mystery, "Fins, Wings and Other Such Things" suggests a curious truth about the ways humans portray their animal cousins in art: They are pecking, clawing, drooling and soaring reflections of who we are.

THE ESSENTIALS:

The National Heritage Museum is supported by the Scottish Rite Freemasons in the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction of the United States.

The museum is located at 33 Marrett Road, Lexington, at the corner of Rte. 2A and Massachusetts Avenue.

Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Saturday, and noon to 5 p.m. on Sunday. Admission and parking are free.

The Lexington Symphony Orchestra's "Sight and Sound" Concerts take place in the auditorium of the museum and are scheduled for: